21 BEST HORROR FILMS OF 2016 – Glenn Packards Picks

While America was experiencing real frights in 2016, the horror genre was flourishing. I’m usually not into mainstream horror but this year films like THE CONJURING 2, DON’T BREATHE, OUIJA: ORGIN OF EVIL, 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE, and my favorite out of the bunch, LIGHTS OUT, nailed it for me. THE WITCH was this year’s sleeper hit, much like last year’s THE BABADOOK and IT FOLLOWS. THE WITCH, made it onto my list and so many other critic’s lists because well…it was scary as hell.

I think there are a couple of other films on my list that are going to piss people off, like CABIN FEVER & BLAIR WITCH. I felt both did a great job and I was really into each of these films. It was the year of horror thrillers like GREEN ROOM, DARLING,THE INVITATION, and my favorite, CARNAGE PARK, which was twisted and majorly intense.

Because BASKIN is all about hell and the devil, it has to go on my list, because, yay, it scared me that much. HUSH was a Netflix smash like we have seen in the past with LAST SHIFT and THE TAKING OF DEBORAH LOGAN. And a lot of you know I’m all about those sleeper horror films. HUSH, not many people knew about.

This year my picks are: INTRUDERS, THE WAILING, SCARE CAMPAIGN, SOUTHBOUND & my number two choice that was almost number one; THE MONSTER. The mother/daughter acting was brilliant and you actually really cared if they made it out of this nightmare on the road.

My number one 2016 pick, is a foreign film; TRAIN TO BUSAN. The film just had everything: gore, story, adventure, characters, terror, & hello it made me cry. If a horror movie can do that then it belongs at number one, make sure to check it out and all the others on my list, and let me know which ones you liked and didn’t like.

21. Darling

A lonely young woman (Lauren Ashley Carter) descends into madness when she becomes the caretaker of a mysterious New York mansion that has a troubled past.

20. The Conjuring 2

In 1977, paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren come out of a self-imposed sabbatical to travel to Enfield, a borough in north London. There, they meet Peggy Hodgson, an overwhelmed single mother of four who tells the couple that something evil is in her home. Ed and Lorraine believe her story when the youngest daughter starts to show signs of demonic possession. As the Warrens try to help the besieged girl, they become the next targets of the malicious spirit.

19. The Wailing

Suspicion leads to hysteria when rural villagers link a series of brutal murders to the arrival of a mysterious stranger (Kunimura Jun).

18.Ouija: Orgin of Evil

In 1967 Los Angeles, widowed mother Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) unwittingly invites authentic evil into her home by adding a new stunt to bolster her séance scam business. When the merciless spirit overtakes her youngest daughter Doris (Lulu Wilson), the small family must confront unthinkable fears to save her and send her possessor back to the other side.

17.Under The Shadows

After Shideh’s building is hit by a missile during the Iran-Iraq War, a superstitious neighbor suggests that the missile was cursed and might be carrying malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits. She becomes convinced a supernatural force within the building is attempting to possess her daughter Dorsa, and she has no choice but to confront these forces if she is to save her daughter and herself.

16. Intruders

Anna suffers from a severe case of agoraphobia and cannot escape from her house when three people break in. The intruders think they will get away easily, until Anna’s other psychosis’ break free.

15. Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever is a 2016 American horror film directed by Travis Z and written by Eli Roth. A remake of Roth’s 2002 film of the same name, the film stars Samuel Davis, Gage Golightly, Matthew Daddario, Nadine Crocker, and Dustin Ingram

14. The Witch

The Witch is a 2015 historical period supernatural horror film written and directed by Robert Eggers in his directorial debut and stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson.

13. Green Room

Members (Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat) of a punk-rock band and a tough young woman (Imogen Poots) battle murderous white supremacists at a remote Oregon roadhouse.

12. The Invitation

While attending a dinner party at his former house, a man (Logan Marshall-Green) starts to believe that his ex-wife (Tammy Blanchard) and her new husband (Michiel Huisman) have sinister plans for the guests.

11. Scare Campaign

A prank show has to up the ante when a new web series starts competing for its audience. When the show targets the wrong person, the consequences are bloody.